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People work at the scene where two transit trains were involved in a crash in Washington rush hour - Source: Reuters -
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Two Washington, DC, subway trains collided during the
Monday afternoon rush hour
,
killing nine people and injuring at least 75, officials said.
A District of Columbia Fire Department official said the death toll
had been raised from six late on Monday, but said officials were
could prepared to identify any of the deceased.
Mayor Adrian Fenty called the crash the deadliest in the 33-year
history of the city's Metro subway system.
Officials said one train hit another train that had stopped at a
platform, but the cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
At least one car from the trailing train was hurled onto the top
of the other in the accident, which occurred on above-ground
tracks.
"Metro officials do not know the cause of the ... collision and are
not likely to know the cause for several days as the investigation
unfolds," the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority said
on its website.
The crash occurred on the heavily traveled red line about 5 pm EDT
(2100 GMT), between Fort Totten and Takoma stations on the
north-eastern outskirts of the city near the border with
Maryland.
Both trains were heading south into the city.
It was the first crash involving a passenger death since 1982, when
three people were killed in a derailment.
The Metro train system began service in 1976.
"What happened ... (was) one train was stopped waiting to get the
order to pass. ... The next train came up behind it and, for
reasons that we do not know, collided into the back of that train,"
John Catoe, general manager of the Washington Metropolitan Area
Transit Authority, told reporters.
"We are committed to investigate this accident until we determine
why this happened and what must be done to ensure it never happens
again," Catoe said in a statement.
The transit authority said one of those killed was a female train
operator in the trailing train.
The accident trapped passengers in one or more of the subway
cars.
One witness described how one train appeared to collide with - and
then run up and over - the second train.
"It was very mangled, everything is ripped out of there," the
woman, who was not identified, told the local ABC television
affiliate.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were at
the crash site early on Tuesday collecting evidence.
"They will have to do both an investigation and then a release of
the scene for us to clean it up," Fenty told reporters at the
scene.
Officials encouraged riders to avoid the red line, which they said
would be severely impacted by the crash.
